Pip-Ebby

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Once I got sucked in by Lightroom and really started caring about the quality of my photos, I did some extensive research on which camera and lens I should buy (because I knew my oldie camera wasn't going to cut it anymore). I read/heard some consistently positive things about the Canon EOS 40D SLR, so I cleared it with my husband and grabbed a good chunk of money out of the bank. A year later, I am extremely happy with my choice. I love my camera!

I really feel like we are still just getting to know each other. I had no knowledge of SLR cameras when I bought it, so I had (and still have) a lot to learn.

For my first lens, I chose the affordable (under $100!) yet powerful Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. I will admit that I purchased this lens because of its price, so I didn't know what to expect from it. Turns out, I was very pleasantly surprised! It takes great portrait photos, which is perfect for me since 90% of the photos I take are of my children. The maximum aperture for this lens is f/1.8, which allows for the shallow depth of field shots that produce those blurry backgrounds.

This lens has a fixed focal length, so it does require a lot of positioning and walking around, back, forth and sideways when trying to get the subject in the viewfinder just the right way. The only time this bothers me is if I have been using my other lens a lot and switch back to this one. Then it takes some readjusting.

By the time this past Spring rolled around, my husband was realizing just how much I was enjoying photography, so he bought me a new lens for Mother's Day. I took it out of the bag thinking it was a candle. I love candles, so I was thrilled! I removed it from the plastic wrap and was shocked to discover that it was not a candle at all. It was a Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 lens!

At the time, though, I was so in love with my other lens that I didn't use this new one very much. Once Ebby and I started this blog, I needed something that could zoom in and out of the food and random other things I was (and am) constantly photographing, so I began to use this lens a whole lot more. Its maximum aperture isn't as wide as my other lens, but its ability to zoom is nice and it takes decent photos in low light.

I am glad I had a reason to start getting to know this new lens! It has been fun. Now, which one should I get next?